Merger of new areas with CMA, expanding it 5-fold, to take time

CHENNAI: Three months after the state Housing and Urban Development Department issued a Government Order (GO) to expand the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) by around five times its present size, the order is yet to be realised by merging the new areas.

The delay is attributed to restructuring of human resources by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).

According to a senior CMDA official, all the local bodies to be merged with the CMA, have to pass resolutions in respective councils giving consent to merger. “Once the local bodies send resolutions, we will send them to the government for approval. Two of the several local bodies gave consent recently. Following this, all the resolutions have been sent to the government recently,” the official said.

He explained that the government will issue another order to officially merge the new areas. The GO issued in October 2022 was only to allow the CMDA to start the process to implement the merger, he added.

Apart from local bodies’ consent, the planning authority should discuss with the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) to ensure a smooth transition of power. Presently, DTCP manages the town planning aspect of the new areas.

“Another issue is manpower management. DTCP already has manpower in the local planning areas concerned. We’re discussing whether to absorb the existing manpower from DTCP or appoint new staff. Such processes will take a few more months.

“Also, the CMDA is yet to decide on the management set-up for the expanded CMA; whether to segregate the CMA into zones similar to Chennai Corporation or not,” he said.

In total, eight local planning areas will be merged with the CMDA. As many as 15 taluks from Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Ranipet have been included. Some of the taluks that have been appended with the CMA are Arakkonam, Sriperumbudur, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Chengalpattu.

The government initially proposed to expand CMA to cover 8,878 sqkm. However, after several public consultation meetings with stakeholders, the proposal for expansion was reduced.